The invention relates to an electronic appliance in accordance with the preamble to claim 1, namely an apparatus for the automatic recording and two-way transmission of data, having a first interface for the data input, a second interface for the data output and a translation unit for processing the data, also called a reading unit below.
Terminals found in private households and in small businesses, such as gas, water and electricity meters, are generally read once a year by the relevant energy supplier. The energy supplier needs to have the data read manually by an employee or the end consumer. This data is then transferred, predominantly manually, to a computer, which holds many sources of error. In the computer, the data forms the basis of accounting. Once the data has been recorded, the consumer has only a limited possibility of checking his specific consumption for peak load or creeping load, or of comparing the data with values from the past. Furthermore, it is virtually impossible for the energy supply companies (EVUs) to intervene in the present notion of energy supply, e.g. in terms of load management or added-value services.
Terminals with an interface for the data output on a bus basis are currently already used on an industrial scale, e.g. in large companies. After conversion, the terminal signals are forwarded to a serial interface (V24). The line connection between the serial interface and the recording computer is connected as a leased line with a dedicated telephone number, and is thus associated with high costs.
The invention is therefore based on the object of creating a simple and economical appliance which is able to manage various interfaces and protocols and thus allows variable, up-to-date and automatic reading of data, as well as control interventions (e.g. load control, added-value services from the EVU).
The invention achieves this object by means of an apparatus of the type mentioned in the introduction,
wherein the first interface is a system which has bus capability and to which one or more terminals can be connected,
wherein the second interface is an interface for the ISDN telephone network or for the cable television network or for satellite transmission, and
wherein the translation unit consists of one or more programmable processors which are connected and programmed such that the conversion unit is able to detect a data request via the second interface and is able to send a data inquiry to the system having bus capability in order to forward it to the or to each terminal, and is able to read a data response from the or from each terminal via the system having bus capability, to process it and to forward it to the second interface.
The subject matter of the invention is therefore the apparatus according to claim 1. Preferred refinements are disclosed in the dependent claims. Individual or a plurality of these refinements, in each case alone or in combination, may also represent solutions to the problem on which the invention is based, and the features disclosed may also be combined in any desired manner.
The invention affords the following advantages: as a result of all the relevant data being read automatically, realized by means of an ISDN link, manual in-situ reading by an employee of the energy supplier or by the end consumer is eliminated. In addition, the consumer has the option of using a computer to examine his consumption data at any time, and of comparing this consumption data with values from the past, for example. The reading unit is additionally distinguished in that a dedicated telephone line (telephone number) is not required for reading the data; an already existing ISDN access facility can be jointly used instead. The apparatus according to the invention may advantageously be used for transmitting the data over modern communication networks, particularly over the cable television network or for satellite transmission. For access to the cable television network and for satellite transmission, a suitable second interface is, by way of example, a so-called set-top box, such as described in xe2x80x9cMultimedia-Datenbanksysteme [Multimedia Database Systems]xe2x80x9d (http://wwwipd.ira.uka.de/xcx9coosem/MM98/Schneider/folge.html#1).
The new arrangement makes it possible to read counter readings in an up-to-date and economical fashion over an ISDN network, without connecting a dedicated telephone number (leased line).
The reading unit is able to record, convert and forward various data (gas, water, electricity consumption) flexibly, automatically and in an up-to-date fashion. The use of the existing infrastructure assures a low level of wiring, easy accessibility and a high availability level.
This type of two-way communication makes entirely new perspectives possible in energy and process planning, both for the end consumer and for the EVU (rapid and transparent processing, remote maintenance, monitoring and leak location, load-dependent and time-dependent accounting methods, load control, time-based determination of consumption on the free energy market, etc.).